The staff at a county jail in Florida were surveyed concerning their attitudes, experiences, and perceptions about civil liability. Few of the jail staff surveyed reported that they had ever been sued, and the vast majority of those who had been sued were supervisors. The likelihood of being sued increased with tenure. Slightly less than half of the jail staff believed that they had been adequately educated in civil liability or that their department would support them if they were sued in the performance of their duties. The survey found that half of the jail staff supported civil liability against public employees and agencies who harm or violate the civil Eights of citizens. Most jail staff did not believe that threats of civil suits hindered their job performance. The study's findings have implications for jail administrations, particularly in terms of the need for staff training on civil liability, and support the need for additional research on jail staff as well as for comparative research on jail staff and police attitudes toward civil liability.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Barrineau, H. E.
(1994). Civil liability in criminal justice (2nd ed.). Cincinnati: Anderson.
2.
Borum, R.
, & Stock, H. (1992). Excessive force prevention programs: An essential tool to properly train staff and protect against litigation. Corrections Today, 54(4), 26-30.
3.
Breslin, F. A.
, Taylor, K. R., & Brodsky, S. L. (1986). Development of a litigaphobia scale: Measurement of excessive fear of litigation. Psychological Reports, 58, 547-550.
4.
Brodsky, S. L.
(1983). A case report of litigaphobic release from an involuntary commitment. Public Service Psychology, 2, 11.
5.
Champion, D.
(1988). Some recent trends in civil liability by federal and state prison inmates. Federal Probation, 52(3), 43-47.
6.
Champion, D.
(1993). Research methods for criminal justice and criminology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
7.
Chiabi, D.
(1996). Police civil liability: An analysis of section 1983 actions in the eastern district and southern district of New York. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 21, 83-104.
8.
Cincinnati and the Justice Department agree on many police reforms
. (2002). Criminal Justice Newsletter, 32(4), 6-7.
Cohn, A. W.
(1998). Reducing opportunities for civil litigation. American Jails, 12(2), 31-33.
11.
del Carmen, R. V.
(1989). Civil liability of police supervisors. American Journal of Police, 8(l), 107-135.
12.
del Carmen, R. V.
(1991). Civil liability in American policing. Englewood, NJ: Prentice Hall.
13.
del Carmen, R. V.
, & Kappeler, V. E. (1991). Municipalities and police agencies as defendants: Liability for official policy. American Journal of Police, 10(1), 1-40.
14.
DOJ opens probe of Cincinnati police
. (2001). Crime Control Digest, 34(15), 3.
15.
Edwards, J.
(2001, April 18). Spillover crowd packs council. The Cincinnati Post. Retrieved January 14, 2003, from http://www.cincypost.com/2001.
16.
Eschholz, S.
, & Vaughn, M. S. (2001). Police sexual violence and rape myths: Civil liability under Section 1983. Journal of Criminal Justice, 29, 389-406.
17.
Farkas, M. A.
(1999). Correctional officer attitudes toward inmates and working with inmates in a "get tough"era. Journal of Criminal Justice, 27, 495-506.
18.
Garrison, A. H.
(1995). Law enforcement civil liability under federal law and attitudes on civil liability: A survey of university, municipal, and state police officers. Police Studies, 18(3), 19-37.
19.
Goetz, K.
(2001, October 23). 200 rally against police brutality. The Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved January 14, 2003, from http://www.enquirer.comneditions12001.
20.
Griffin, M. L.
(1999). The influence of organizational climate on detention officers' readiness to use force in a county jail. Criminal Justice Review, 24, 1-26.
21.
Hall, D. E.
(2002). Litigaphobia in public safety: An empirical comparison by rank, occupation, experience, and education. Unpublished manuscript.
22.
Hanson, R. A.
, & Daley, H. W. K. (1995). Challenging the conditions of prisons and jails: A report on section 1983 litigation. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
23.
Hemmens, C.
, Stohr, M. K., Schoeler, M., Sanders, L., Laky, M. J., & Batt, J. (1999). What's my job? Role and ethical perceptions of jail staff. American Jails, 13(5), 15-24.
24.
Herrick, E.
(1988). Getting sued: DOCs as defendants. Corrections Compendium, 14, 1-8.
25.
Hughes, T. T.
(2001). Police officers and civil liability: "The ties that bind"?Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management, 24, 240-262.
26.
Kappeler, V. E.
(1996). The fear of civil liability among Kentucky police cadets. Unpublished manuscript, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY.
27.
Kappeler, V. E.
(2001). Critical issues in police civil liability (3rd ed.). Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland.
28.
Kappeler, V. E.
, & del Carmen, R. V. (1990). Police civil liability for failure to arrest intoxicated drivers. Journal of Criminal Justice, 18, 117-131.
29.
Kappeler, V. E.
, Kappeler, S. F., & del Carmen, R. V. (1993). A content analysis of police liability cases: Decisions of federal district courts. Journal of Criminal Justice, 21, 325-337.
30.
Kappeler, V. E.
, & Vaughn, M. S. (1997). Law enforcement: When the pursuit becomes criminal-Municipal liability for police sexual violence. Criminal Law Bulletin, 33, 352-376.
31.
Kappeler, V. E.
, Vaughn, M. S., & del Carmen, R. V. (1991). Death in detention: An analysis of police liability for negligent failure to prevent suicide. Journal of Criminal Justice, 19, 381-393.
32.
Maxfield, M.
, & Babbie, E. (1998). Research methods for criminal justice and criminology (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: West/Wadsworth.
33.
McCoy, C.
(1981). The impact of section 1983 litigation on policymaking in corrections. Federal Probation, 45(4), 17-23.
34.
Neuman, W.
(2000). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
35.
Pipes, C.
, & Pape, D. (2001). Police pursuits and civil liability. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 70(7), 16-21.
36.
Poole, E. D.
, & Pogrebin, M. R. (1991). Changing jail organization and management: Toward improved employee utilization. In J. A. Thompson & G. L. Mays (Eds.), American jails: Public policy issues (pp. 163-179). Chicago: Nelson-Hall Publishers.
37.
Ross, D. L.
(1997a). Emerging trends in correctional liability cases: A content analysis of federal court decisions of title 42 of United States code section 1983: 1970-1994. Journal of Criminal Justice, 25, 501-515.
38.
Ross, D. L.
(1997b). Section 1983 jail litigation: A twenty-five year content analysis. Corrections Compendium, 22(1), 1-8.
39.
Scogin, F.
, & Brodsky, S. L. (1991). Fear of litigation among law enforcement officers. American Journal of Police, 10(1), 41-45.
40.
Silver, I.
(2001). Police civil liability. New York: Matthew Bender.
41.
Sims, B.
(2001). Surveying the correctional environment: A review of the literature. Corrections Management Quarterly, 5(2), 1-12.
42.
Singer, R. G.
(1980). Prisoner's rights litigation: A look at the past decade, and a look at the coming decade. Federal Probation, 44(4), 3-11.
43.
Stevens, D. J.
(2001). Civil liability and selective enforcement. Law and Order, 49(5), 105-107.
44.
Thomas, J.
, Aylward, A., Casey, M. L., Moton, D., Oldham, M., & Wheetly, G. (1985). Rethinking prisoner litigation: Some preliminary distinctions between habeas corpus and civil rights. Prison Journal, 65, 83-106.
45.
Thomas, J.
, Keeler, D., & Harris, K. (1986). Issues and misconceptions in prisoner litigation: A critical view. Criminology, 24, 775-796.
46.
Thurm, M.
(1992). The post-excessive force investigation: Its effect on your agency's civil liability. Police Chief, 59(2), 8-11.
47.
Turner, W. B.
(1979). When prisoners sue: A study of prisoner section 1983 suits in federal courts. Harvard Law Review, 92, 610-663.
48.
Uniform Crime Reports
. (1999). Crime in the United States-1999: Table 6. Metropolitan statistical area, 1999. Retrieved January 10, 2002, from http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/99cius.htm.
49.
U.S. Census
. (2000). State and county quick facts. Retrieved January 9, 2002, from http://www.quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/12000.html.
50.
Vaughn, M. S.
(1994). Police civil liability for abandonment in high crime areas and other risk situations. Journal of Criminal Justice, 22, 407-424.
51.
Vaughn, M. S.
(1995). Section 1983 civil liability of prison officials for denying and delaying medication and drugs to prison inmates. Issues in Law and Medicine, 11, 47-76.
52.
Vaughn, M. S.
(1996a). Police civil liability and the First Amendment: Retaliation against citizens who criticize and challenge the police. Crime and Delinquency, 42, 50-75.
53.
Vaughn, M. S.
(1996b). Prison civil liability for inmate-against-inmate assault and breakdown/disorganization theory. Journal of Criminal Justice, 24, 139-152.
54.
Vaughn, M. S.
(1997a). First Amendment civil liability against law enforcement supervisors for violating their subordinates' rights to engage in overt political expression. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management, 20, 270-291.
55.
Vaughn, M. S.
(1997b). Prison officials' liability for inmate-on-inmate assault: A review of case law. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 25, 1-30.
56.
Vaughn, M. S.
, & Carroll, L. (1998). Separate but unequal: Prison versus free-world medical care. Justice Quarterly, 15, 3-40.
57.
Vaughn, M. S.
, & Coomes, L. F. (1995). Police civil liability under section 1983: When do police officers act under color of law?Journal of Criminal Justice, 23, 395-415.
58.
Vaughn, M. S.
, Cooper, T. W., & del Carmen, R. V. (2001). Assessing legal liabilities in law enforcement: Police chiefs' views. Crime and Delinquency, 47, 3-27.
59.
Vaughn, M. S.
, & del Carmen, R. V. (1995). Civil liability against prison officials for inmate-on-inmate assault: Where are we and where have we been?Prison Journal, 75, 69-89.
60.
Vaughn, M. S.
, & Kappeler, V. E. (1999). Law enforcement: Pissing off the police-Civil liability under the First Amendment and the fighting words doctrine. Criminal Law Bulletin, 35, 594-620.
61.
Wilbert, J. R.
, & Fulero, S. M. (1988). Impact of malpractice litigation on professional psychology: Survey of practioners. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 19, 379-382.
62.
Williams, J. L.
, Rodeheaver, D. G., & Huggins, D. W. (1999). A comparative evaluation of a new generation jail. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 23, 223-246.
63.
Worrall, J. L.
(1998). Administrative determinants of civil liability lawsuits against municipal police departments: An exploratory analysis. Crime and Delinquency, 44, 295-313.
64.
Wright, R. H.
(1988). The Wright way: Litigaphobia. Psychotherapy in Private Practice, 6, 115-123.
